Public Health Care Not Reaching its Intended Audience
For people like Alfredo Aranda, who easily qualified for a state funded health care plan but still cannot afford to pay the premium, public health care is failing to meet the needs of its intended audience. While these programs are aimed at helping to insure the thousands who are currently unable to access health care through other means, the price tag often remains too high to make a difference. Aranda had high hopes for the coverage, but when he found out that it would cost him $175 a month, he decided it was out of the question. When it comes down to paying for food and gas, or paying your health insurance premium, it is easy to see which priorities will win out. The Stamford Community Health Center has actually shown that 20 out of 23 people who qualify for assistance programs do not enroll, while another, larger health center reports about half of eligible people enrolling. This just means that the programs are not reaching those who they are designed to help. Is this just a sad truth given the current economic climate, or can changes be made to make public health care more affordable to the people who need help?
March 2nd, 2009 at 2:14 pm
People losing their jobs just can’t afford anything extra when they have families to support and mortgages to pay. It is just the sad truth of where are country is today.
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:49 pm
Maybe need to start thinking of healthcare the same way they think of their mortgage. Afterall, your body is your temple, if you can’t keep it healthy then what else is there?
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:56 pm
I actually think that people are thinking of healthcare the same way they think of their mortgage. A rising number of people are just letting it go…
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:21 pm
The economic downturn is going to hurt a lot more people in a lot of different ways than the government can possibly protect, at least in the short run.